Tag Archives: Namecoin

“What’s in a Name …coin?

Namecoin is a peer to peer Ecoin based on Bitcoin. Unlike some other Bitcoin derived Ecoins, Namecoin has its own unique block chain. Namecoin’s unique blockchain features are what makes Namecoin a unique Ecoin. The coin gets its name from the fact that the holder of a Namecoin get to custom write fields in the Namecoin public blockchain.

Every Namecoin is yours to write.

The unique Namecoin feature, having a unique name for each transaction, greatly increased the anonymity and security of Namecoins. The Namecoin blockchain is a a public spreadsheet that stores data on every Namecoin transaction in the blockchain. There are a few extra columns for data in the Namecoin blockchain. When you receive a Namecoin you get to put custom information or data in the row that is dedicated in the blockchain to your Namecoin transaction. While this ledger is publically readable, only the Namecoin owner can write to this row in the table.

When you acquire a Name coin you get to fill a row in the table with whatever information you want. Some of the most common insertions are encrypted data, a domain name pointing to an ip addresses, a name or an openid addresses. You can put anything you want in there as long as it fits the field parameters. Any application that wants the information just has to read the spreadsheet. However, only the owner of that row can adjust the values of their row. To write to the row, the name coin holder provides their encrypted Namecoin wallet to prove ownership.

Namecoin transactions include two small fees, a network fee and a transaction fee. The network fee is used to ‘pay’ for the unique name for the transaction. The Namecoin network fee is set to drop as more Namecoins enter circulation. Right now it costs 0.02 for new .bit domain and lasts for 175 days. Then you have to update for 0.005. The transaction fee is variable depending on how fast you need the transaction to execute. The transaction fee ranges from 0 to .01 NMC.

Ecoin Insurance

When you buy or sell an Ecoin you can use escrow services like Local Bitcoin to increase the likelihood that you will get a fair trade. If a Bitcoin (or other Ecoin) is stolen it is almost impossible to get it back. There is no buyer guarantee, charge back or refund option. Also there is no way to delete the stolen Bitcoin and replace it. Basically the victim is without recourse.

Hard to hide stolen Ecoins

Unlike cars, jewelry and cash, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible to hide coins from the world and still use them. This is because of the peer to peer block chain. A thief is attempting to do it right now with 96,000 stolen bitcoins. You can actually watch it happen real time on the block chain. The block chain records every Ecoin transaction that has ever occurred. The entire world knows the exact network location (Bitcoin Wallet) of the stolen Ecoin. The entire world also knows exactly when that Bitcoin or portion of that Bitcoin is moved on the network from one Wallet to another.

Tagging stolen Ecoins

Because every ecoin transaction is recorded, the ecoin can also be tagged as stolen. The tag could follow the stolen Bitcoin around the network. The stolen ecoin index could be available to the entire peer to peer network and ecoin clients could look at the index to determine if a coin that they received is stolen.

How Bitcoin and Ecoin insurance could work

Ecoin holders would pay the insurance premiums with ecoins the same way we buy insurance now. When a ecoin is stolen the victim would make a claim against the insurance similar to claims against ordinary theft insurance. Once the insurer confirms that the coin has been legitimately stolen, the insurer would replace the ecoin. The insurer would become the rightful owner of the stolen ecoins.

The insurer could offer a bounty for the return of the stolen ecoins. The first time the coin is traded or held in an online wallet it would be identified as stolen and could be transferred back to the insurer for the bounty. Once the ecoin is back in the hands of the rightful owner, the stolen tag could be removed and the ecoin recirculated.

What is Ecoin Mining

Mining Bitcoins can be compared to mining minerals like gold, copper silver etc. The way you mine gold is my digging in the ground, looking for something shiny, then testing to make sure that it is gold. When you mine Ecoins, your shovel is a computer doing math and your testing kit is all the other computers on the Ecoin peer to peer network. Instead of digging in the dirt to find something that looks like a Ecoin, your computer tries to solve a difficult math problem. The math problem that has many correct answers, but not an infinite number of answers.

Since there is a finite number of correct answers to the math problem, as Ecoins are discovered there are less to find.

Mining computers requires a great deal of computing horsepower. If you do not have a powerful computer and a cost effective power supply, you will not be able to mine Ecoins. Unfortunately, this describes most of the people living in the world.

An Ecoin is an electronic currency. It is also referred to as E-currency or crypto currency. It is pretty much like cash for the Internet. Ecoins come in two types, closed network ecoins and open network ecoins. Examples of closed network ecoin networks are the types of ecoins used for virtual goods for games or on social networks. In game currency like Facebook credits and Gold for World of Warcraft are examples of closed network ecoins. The other major type of ecurrency is open network systems. Bitcoins and litecoins are two types of peer to peer, open network crypto currencies. Bitcoin is the grandfather of these types of ecoins. Litecoin is the up and comer. There are many other types of Ecoins as well. Each coin has its own flavor. The major type are outlined in the chart below.